Official websites use .gov
A .gov website belongs to an official government organization in the United States.
Secure .gov websites use HTTPS
A lock () or https:// means you’ve safely connected to the .gov website. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites.
Members of the media may email inquiries or interview requests to press@fincen.gov.
If you are not a member of the media, please visit the FinCEN contact page.
Information from SARs helped unravel a complex fraudulent banking scheme in which victims lost thousands of dollars to fake investments and a multinational financial institution had its identity stolen.
The scheme to defraud investors allegedly started in late 2002, when an individual…
Six people were convicted and sentenced for their involvement in a $12 million money laundering scheme. The scheme involved the wire transfers of drug proceeds to South American countries for the benefit of drug cartels.
The defendants deposited drug proceeds into more than 50 bank…
The filing of a number of Suspicious Activity Reports resulted in an investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation of three individuals for their part in the failure of a community bank that had been in business since the early 1900s. The individuals, one of whom was an officer at the…
A purported entrepreneur convinced scores of individuals to invest in ventures and businesses supposedly related to the extraction of natural resources that were, in reality, part of a sophisticated Ponzi scheme. The defendant followed a familiar pattern evident in such schemes: paying earlier…
Through a proactive review of SARs, a Federal agent identified records detailing structured transactions, unusual withdrawals, and unexplained wire transfers. The subsequent investigation uncovered over $2 million in cash and wire transfers from a drug-related money laundering conspiracy…
Immigration and Customs Enforcement conducted an investigation based on a number of Suspicious Activity Reports involving a licensed money services business. The owners and operators of the money services business conspired with unlicensed money remitters (couriers) to commit criminal acts. The…
In early 2012, FinCEN conducted outreach to all of its state and local law enforcement partners, and asked for cases where FinCEN data played a useful role in their investigations. Below, in their own words, is an example of how FinCEN's stakeholders use FinCEN data. It has been edited only for…
An investigator in the District Attorney’s office was conducting a proactive search in the BSA database for illicit activity and found a SAR filed on a business thought to be operating as an unlicensed money remitter. The office opened an investigation on the subjects of the SAR and obtained…
In early 2012, FinCEN conducted outreach to all of its state and local law enforcement partners, and asked for cases where FinCEN data played a useful role in their investigations. Below, in their own words, is an example of how FinCEN's stakeholders use FinCEN data. It has been edited only for…
In a case initiated based on the filing of a Suspicious Activity Report, a former investment officer for a bank was sentenced to two years in prison and three years supervised release and was ordered to make restitution of almost half a million dollars. He pled guilty to embezzlement by a bank…